Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Obama's Multibillion Dollar Mistake

I listened carefully to President Obama’s fine speech today, and apparently like most “liberals” or “progressives” I was very pleased by it. He certainly “talked the talk,” and now we will have to wait and see if he truly “walks the walk.” I sincerely hope he does. I fear if he does not he will undoubtedly find himself in big trouble with his “base.” His vow to refuse to renew the ridiculous Bush tax cuts, by itself, was enough to make me jump for joy. His vow to save Medicare and Medicaid virtually made me swoon with delight. His attack on the Ryan budget proposal was right on. All in all I thought it was a great performance. Maddow and others on the left all seem to be pleased. There seems to be very little criticism from Democrats, but of course volumes of it from the Republicans.

I do not say this because I was disappointed in the speech he gave. I must say, however, I was disappointed with the speech he did not give. That is, I thought he was remarkably silent about his three (or more) “wars,” or quasi-wars, or whatever they are. Surely they have something to do with the deficit. Similarly, he was remarkably silent on the billions of dollars given to various corporations every year. I would have thought that, too, might be related to the deficit. Nor did he mention anything about banks or Wall Street, even though they have been robbing us blind for years (remember, Obama received lots of money from Wall Street). And interestingly enough he didn’t really talk much about jobs. Perhaps you could say these are merely the “details” of his program that are left to be discussed.

What really bothered me greatly was when he said he believed Republicans were sincere in their desires for our country, just as he was. He was speaking of the country “he knows,” the America he knows, a vision he has of America, and he seems to believe that Republicans are sincere in their desire to maintain that same vision of America even though we might differ on some things. This was, first of all, a bit inconsistent with his earlier remarks that the Republicans had one vision for our country and he had another. But part of Obama’s image of the America he knows is the belief that everyone can come together and work to solve our common problems, that is, he believes strongly in bipartisanship and seems unable or unwilling to accept the reality that in contemporary America that no longer exists.

It may be true that Republicans are sincere in their beliefs. But their sincerity has nothing to do with the welfare of our nation. They are doubtless sincere in their desire to rid us of Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid, Planned Parenthood, the EPA, taxes, unemployment insurance, Roe vs Wade, and so forth, but they are not interested in the welfare of our nation and our citizens. For the past thirty years they have demonstrated this clearly and repeatedly both in word and deed. When they mounted an unprecedented and unprincipled personal attack on Clinton, thereby interrupting and complicating the affairs of our government, they were not acting in the best interest of the nation, but only of themselves (this is true regardless of how you might feel about Clinton and his Presidency). When they sent their “Brown Shirts” to Florida to interrupt the counting of ballots they were not acting in the best interest of our nation. When they announced they would vote “no” on everything the Obama administration wanted, they were not acting in the best interest of our nation. When John McCain picked the Housewife from Hell, a completely unqualified person to be his running mate, he was not acting in the best interest of our nation. When they are opposed to anything and everything that might benefit the working class of our country they are not acting in the best interest of our nation. When they announced their number one priority was to insure President Obama would be a one-term President they were not acting in the best interest of the nation. Certainly from the Clinton Presidency (if not before) Republicans have, in my opinion, been operating very near the treasonous level. When their concept of “roviating” anyone who opposed them, like John Kerry and others, by attempting to slime them by any means possible, they abandoned any pretense of being a legitimate political party and became little more than a criminal conspiracy dedicated to the take-over of our government to continue to transfer wealth from the poor to the wealthy. When they allowed Bush to mount an unprecedented military attack against a nation that was no threat to us, a so-called “preventative war,” a war crime of the first order, they were not acting in the best interest of the nation. I can see no reason, none at all, why Obama clings to his belief that Republicans somehow share the same visions for our nation or even its well-being. Their interest is in serving the Corporations that have been busily taking over the world. These corporations are no longer merely national, they are international, and they have annual budgets that far exceed that of most of the nations of the world. Republicans (and unfortunately some others as well) are well bribed do their bidding, if the nation itself has to be sacrificed for their profits, so be it, nations are no longer very important. Obama’s multibillion dollar mistake lies in his failure to understand that Republicans are not going to cooperate with him no matter what he does, and the more he gives in to them the more they will demand. His continued stubborn attempt at bipartisanship with these criminals, to compromise with them, has already cost us billions. As he is himself supported in large part by Wall Street, I wonder if he will really say “no” to the outrageous demands they are currently making. I believe he has to do so as otherwise I fear it is going to be too late. Obama even now has a unique opportunity to become a truly great President, if he says no to corporatism as did both Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt. If he now takes a stand against these giant corporations and the creeping fascism that is underway in our country I have no doubt the majority of the American people will not only support him but will think him a hero. He must say no to further tax cuts for the obscenely wealthy, subsidies for corporations that don’t need them, and to those who would undermine what have always been the best features of our nation, liberalism and support for the middle class and for those less fortunate. If he fails our future will be bleak indeed.